‘The Walking Dead’ recap: ‘The Other Side’

On last night’s The Walking Dead, we witnessed Daryl do something completely out of character: he cried! Not only that, but we saw Sasha do the unthinkable towards the end (more on that later, though).

First, let’s start with what’s happening inside the Hilltop. It’s been awhile since we checked in with this community but during that time we can tell they’ve been flourishing, in a way. Sasha and Maggie are teaching knife-fighting skills to a group of Hilltoppers, the community is making and stockpiling their own weaponry and we find out that Maggie and her late husband Glenn’s baby is doing just fine.

However, this is The Walking Dead so we know that all of this happy news can’t last forever. Someone almost surely has to invade and spoil it all. This is where Negan’s right hand man, Simon and a party of Saviors come in. They arrive at the Hilltop with a clear motive in mind and the infamously spineless leader of Hilltop, Gregory, immediately starts getting chummy with Simon. Simon and the Saviors have come for their onsite physician, Dr. Carson, after Negan “fired” his brother so to speak. Gregory, speaking to his cowardice, lets them take their doctor without a fight. In return, Simon is courteous enough to leave the Hilltop community with a huge box of generic Aspirin. Oh, thank you Mr. Negan, how can we ever repay you?

Meanwhile, Maggie and Daryl hide together down in a cellar upon the Saviors’ arrival and Enid attempts to sway a Savior, who is venturing too far towards the cellar, with a basket of fresh vegetables (not “veggies” mind you). However, the attempt seems futile since he ends up entering the cellar in search for Daryl anyway. In a suspenseful moment, we see the unnamed Savior move a few boxes out of the way and as he seems to get closer and closer to Maggie and Daryl’s hiding space, Daryl braces himself for attack. Maggie restrains him though, almost like he’s a mad dog. After the Savior leaves, Maggie and Daryl have a brief moment where we see Daryl finally break down and cry. He’s finally letting himself feel the gravity of Glenn’s death and apologizes to her, thinking it’s his fault that he got killed. A very composed Maggie comforts him and tells him she doesn’t blame him.

As Daryl and Maggie are sharing in their grief, we catch up with Rosita and Sasha, who took the uproar of the Saviors’ surprise visit as the perfect opportunity to escape via a tunnel Sasha dug, which runs underneath and out of the Hilltop. For the past few episodes, we see that although they have one thing in common (they both slept with the same man), they haven’t really been on friendly terms. In this episode though, they finally confide in and take an interest in each other a little. While hiding out in an abandoned warehouse overlooking the Saviors’ compound where they will attempt their sniper attack on Negan, we learn a little bit about what kind of life Rosita led before the fall. She talks to Sasha about how she learned her fighting and survival skills from the different men she’d been with and they both share fond memories of the greatest man they’ve ever known, Abraham.

Things get more serious though when the two hear a truck approach the compound. They rush to the window to see the Hilltop Saviors arrive home with the abducted Dr. Carson. The two recognize the doctor from the Hilltop and they watch as Negan strolls out in his trademark swagger to greet the newly-arrived party. Sasha takes aim at him with her sniper rifle, but she can’t get a clear shot of Negan with everyone standing around him. Plan B: infiltrate and storm the compound.

Later that night, Rosita and Sasha sneak into the compound. They find Eugene guarding the gates and they tell him he’s free, but he refuses to leave for reasons unknown. He possibly either fears how Negan would react if he found out he escaped or he relishes the respect he’s getting for his intellect. Cowarding, Eugene instead runs back inside. Rosita and Sasha continue their infiltration-that is until Sasha locks Rosita out of the compound. Rosita, who is just as shocked as we are, learns that the whole thing was a suicide mission on Sasha’s part. Sasha is prepared to sacrifice herself for the survival of the group.

Rosita runs away, upset and crying over Sasha’s act of courage. The episode comes to a close when she stops a short distance away from the compound and looks up with tear-filled eyes to see the silhouette of Daryl standing nearby with his crossbow over his shoulder.

So what will become of Sasha? Will she pretend to join ranks with the Saviors as Eugene did or will she die fighting them, singlehandedly? And what will Sasha’s sacrifice mean for Rick and the group’s planned war with the Saviors? I guess we’ll just have to tune in and find out next week.